KALAMAZOO — If asked how business was stacking up in commercial real estate development a year ago, Kalamazoo-based developer Harry Albright says, “I would have said, ‘I don’t see any new construction for several years.’ ”

Now, he says it appears that national retailers who wrote Michigan off through the Great Recession are beginning to see West Michigan apart from the rest of the state.

“Now I can tell you we’re talking to some national tenants that we expect to do construction in the next 12 months,” said Albright, whose Allied Capital Corp., owns and manages the Shoppes at Romence Village in Portage and the Campus Pointe Mall east of the Western Michigan University campus in Kalamazoo.

“That’s a clear indication that the economy is turning, particularly in West Michigan,” he said. “My counterparts in the other parts of the state are not telling me the same thing.”

He said the demographics in West Michigan are good — including an employment base that has not seen any major layoffs in several months, and some strong employers.

“We have some pretty good employers who are looking to hire (or continuing to hire or transfer people here),” he said, referring to Pfizer Inc., Stryker Corp., and MPI Research.

“These are names that are really starting to make people pay attention," he said.

Although he would not name the major retailers considering coming here, Albright said there has been a fair amount of activity among retailers and restaurants on a smaller scale. His Shoppes at Romence Village will be the new home of AAA Michigan’s main Kalamazoo office, as that relocates late this year or early next year from its longtime location on Crosstown Parkway in Kalamazoo. And the Shoppes at Romence Village is now the home of a new restaurant, Robby’s Cafe, which opened a couple of weeks ago at 639 Romence Road.

Campus Pointe Mall, off Howard Street at Michigan Avenue, has become the home of The Hot Dog Factory, which opened about three weeks ago, as well as Pop’s Italian Beef & Sausage, which opened there a year ago and continues to grow its business.

“I think we’re finally being successful in letting people know that West Michigan is almost another state,” Albright said. “... You’ve got to plug in what is happening in the next two to five years.”